Surface Scratcher wrote:Hey, you mentioned before that your motor is on the transom. Is it as high as itll go? You might wanna find a small manual jack plate. That jack will allow you to run different props at their optimum height. I see no reason you can't go 60 with the 24 inch.

As far as starter, if it doesn't have enough power to throw the starter gear up, three things come to mind, not enough amps from the batt, a gunked up starter gear, some tired brushes in the starter.

Wore out starter was the problem. $65 for a new one. With the new starter, corrosion free cables and a new higher cranking battery I barely need to turn the key now.

Thanks for all the info, gents. I'll look into adding a jack plate and put it on my 'Stream winter projects list.

A YT hull is almost hopeless without a power jack plate. I adjust the motor height on my Vasarette almost as much as I change the trim.

With any kind of chopper prop, the boat would be downright miserable without a power jack. It would probably take the whole lake to get it on plane if I couldn't drop the motor.

Hey, you mentioned before that your motor is on the transom. Is it as high as itll go? You might wanna find a small manual jack plate. That jack will allow you to run different props at their optimum height. I see no reason you can't go 60 with the 24 inch.

As far as starter, if it doesn't have enough power to throw the starter gear up, three things come to mind, not enough amps from the batt, a gunked up starter gear, some tired brushes in the starter.

Well, the Raker 20 is not enough pitch. I was getting some RPM readings at 6200-6400. That Raker 24 was probably not too far off from being the right choice. It was probably just the damage to the blades on the prop which made it not perform like it should.

Top speed with the Raker 20 was 51mph w/ GPS. Will repair the 24, and might look at getting a 22 to play with.

Tach seemed to work good for me. Would turn off at times but my regulator/rectifier tests good. I cleaned up all the terminals again so hopefully that helps. Battery meter shows 13-14 when the boat is running, and 15-16 when putting some throttle to it. Battery was at 95% at the end of the week, and the boat would not start. Pretty sure my starter is fine, but it doesn't always seem like it's getting full juice to shoot the start gear into the flywheel. Cables from my battery to engine check good. This engine has never been a good cold starter. Gotta keep the tender on it more or even get a bigger cranking battery.

Found a Raker 20 that I'll try out. That should keep me in the 5600 range. If I have some RPM's to play with yet I may get a Raker 22.

Decarbing the motor is complete. Definitely notices some carbon buildup on the plugs and chucks that shot out the exhaust. Didn't get to the compression check yet, but will.

The Raker 24 does have some nicks and dings on it and really should be redone. So that may be a big reason why it's not performing like it should.

I am going to pick up a 21 pitch prop and test it out. The 19 seems to work well, but I'm thinking at WOT that it's on higher side of the RPM range. I know my limit is at 5800, but am guessing that the ideal WOT RPM is probably around 5400-5500? 21 might be a perfect since I do tend to rip around more and enjoy the fast acceleration, quick/sharp turning and jumping out of the hole more than going straight and fast. I tend to use the boat more on smaller lakes too.

Will be in St. Germain over the week of the 4th of July. Can't wait to tear it up!

Thank you! Still getting used to this board, but sure am glad I found it!

FYI, this will work better for posting images in posts then using images from your album - http://www.hydrostreamforums.com/howto-images

I fixed your pic there for you.

So I should move the prop shaft (red line) up so it's more in line with the bottom of the boat (yellow line)? Is that what jack plates help do?

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Try to get the prop shaft even with the bottom of the pad. If your not running a nose cone with a low water pick up, keep an eye on your water pressure. And by doing that raise the entire motor on the transom, not with trim. If you try that route you could get yourself in a lot of trouble.